Laundry drier



C. L. BRALEY.

LAUNDRY DRIER.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. 14. 1921.

1,4:34 ,19%0 'Patentml Oct, 3L 1922i.

2 SHEETS-$HEET I.

moa/who o Charles L. braley C. L. BRALEY.

LAUNDRY DRIER- APPLlCATlON FILED 00114. 1921.

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lPatented @ct. 3311, i922.

UNHTEID STATES CHARLES 1L. BRALEY, 01E CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

LAUNDRY DRIER.

Application filed October 1 21, 1921. Serial Ito. 507,728.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that l, CHARLES lL. BRALEY, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, county of Cook, State of lillinois, have invented certain new and useful linprovements in Laundry Driers, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in laundry driers.

My present improvements relate to the type of laundry drier illustrated in my application for Letters Patent, filed April 23, 1921, Ser. No. 464,057, and are a modification and, in some respects, an improvement upon the laundry driers there illustrated.

The main objects of the invention are:

First, to provide an improved laundry drier by means of which laundry may be quickly dried and treated with fresh cold air.

Second, to provide an improved laundry drier which is of large capacity and at the same time is very compact in structure.

Further objects, and objects relating to structural details, will definitely appear from the detailed description to follow.

1 accomplish the objects of the invention by the devices and means described in the following specification. The invention is clearly defined and pointed out in the claims.

A structure which is a preferred embodiment of the invention is clearly illustrated in the accompanying drawing, forming a part of this application, in which:

Fig. I is a side elevation of my improved laundry drier, portions being broken away to show structural details.

Fig. H is a plan view.

Fig. HT is a detail side elevation looking from the right of Fig. T.

In the drawing similar reference characters refer to similar parts throughout the several views.

Referring to the drawing, T provide a drying chamber, designated generally by the numeral 1, preferably in the shape of an inverted cone, or expanding upwardly. The chamber has an inlet opening 2 at the bottom thereof and a discharge opening 3 at the top. In the structure illustrated the bottom portion 4: is formed of sheet metal as is also the top 5. Between the bottom and top portions are panels 6 of glass, reinforced glass being found very satisfactory for this purpose, the glass providing side walls which are satisfactory in that they are attractive in appearance and easily kept in sanitary condition.

The door 7 is arranged above but close to the inlet screen 8 arranged in the inlet openmg. This door is of such size as to permit the convenient introduction and removal of laundry. The opening at the top is also provided with a screen, as 9. Below the drying chamber is a blower, shown conven tlonally at 10, the discharge 11 of the blower bemg connected to the inlet opening of the drying chamber.

An air supply conduit 12 is disposed vertically at the side of the drying chamber and connected to deliver to the blower. This conduit is provided with a longitudinal partition 13 providing a cold air passage 14: and a hot air passage or air heating chamber 15 having heating coils 16 arranged therein. The valve 17 is arranged at the lower ends of these passages and adapted to control or cut ofi' either passage, so that either cold air or heated air may be delivered or air tempered as desired. The hand piece 18 is provided for the valve and has suitable indicia associated with it to indicate to the operator the adjustment of thevalve.

By this arrangement the air is delivered to the drying chamber and upwardly against and through the articles therein which are suspended and agitated by the air in the chamber, with the result that they are evenly and rapidly dried without serious wear thereon or brushing up or removing of the nap. As in my said application, ll prefer to employ in this connection a shutter 19 supported below the screen 8 so as to substantially shut 01f one side thereof, causing the blast of air to pass through the other side and give the articles more or less of a rotary movement within the drier, the movement being reversed or shifted by the shifting of the shutter from side to side. This, I automatically accomplish in the structure illustrated by providing a slide 21 operatively connected to the shutter and connected to the crank wheel 22 by the pitman 23.

The wheel 22 is a worm gear and is driven from the driving shaft 24 of the blower by means of the worm 25 on the shaft 26, the shaft 26 being connected by the pulley 27 thereon and the belt 28 to a pulley 29 on the driving shaft 24. This driving shaft 24 is driven from a motor, shown conventionally at 30.

I preferably surround the screen 8 with a drain 31 so that the water which collects or condenses upon the walls runs into and is drained of]? by this trough or drain. A drain cock 32 is provided to which a hose or other suitable discharge (not shown) may be connected.

With this arrangement of parts the laundry m-ay be rapidly and satisfactorily dried even as taken from the washer, that is, without a preliminary extracting, and the wear and tear on the fabric is minimized. Further, the laundry dried in this way has the flufi'y and smooth appearance of articles dried in the open air; also the laundry may be subjected to fresh cold air and sweetened or cleansed by such treatment.

- Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

1. In a laundry drier, the combination of a drying chamber having a screened inlet at the bottom and a screened discharge at the top, said chamber being tapered down-- wardly to its said inlet and provided with a door for charging and discharging located above and adjacent to its said inlet screen, a blower disposed below said drying chamber and having its discharge connected to the inlet thereof, an air supply conduit disposed vertically at the side of said drying chamber and delivering to said blower and having a longitudinal partition therein providing a cold air passage and an air heating passage, and a valve disposed at the bottom of said passages and adapted to control either passage.

2. In a laundry'drier, the combination of a drying chamber having a screened inlet at the bottom and a screened discharge at the top, said chamber being tapered do-wnwardly to its said inlet, a blower having its discharge connected to the inlet thereof, an air supply conduit delivering to said blower and having a longitudinal partition therein providing a cold air passage and an air heating passage, and a valve disposed at the inner end of said passages and adapted to control either passage.

3. In a laundry drier, the combination of a drying chamber having a/ screened inlet at the bottom and a screened discharge at the top, said chamber being tapered downwardly to its said inlet, a blower having its discharge connected to the inlet of said dry ng chamber, a shutter disposed below said inlet screen and adapted to be swung from side to side thereof whereby said inlet opening 1s cut off first on one side and then on the other, a driving shaft for said blower, and driving connections therefrom to said shutter.

4. In a laundry drier, the combination of a drying chamber having a screened inlet at the bottom and a screened discharge at the top, said chamber being tapered downwardly to its said inlet, a blower having its discharge connected to the inlet of said drymg. chamber, a shutter disposed below said inlet screen and adapted to be swung from side to side thereof whereby said inlet opening is cut off first on one side and then on the other, and driving connections from said blower to said shutter.

5. In a laundry drier, the combination of a drying chamber having a screened inlet at the bottom and a screened discharge at the top, a blower having its discharge connected to the inlet of said drying chamber, a shutter disposed below said inlet screen and adapted to be swung from side to side thereof, whereby said inlet screen is cut off first /on one side and then on the other, a driving shaft for said blower, an actuating slide for said shutter, a crank wheel, a crank rod connecting said crank wheel to said slide, a driving shaft for said blower, and driving connections from said driving shaft to said crank wheel.

6. In a laundry drier, the combination of a drying chamber having a screened inlet at the bottom and a screened discharge at the top, a blower having its discharge connected to the inlet of said drying chamber,.

a shutter adapted to close first one part of said inlet and then another, a driving shaft for said blower, and driving" connections from said driving shaft to said shutter.

7. In a laundry drier, the combination of a drying chamber having a screened inlet at the bottom and a screened discharge at the top, said chamber being'tapered downwardly to its inlet, a drain between the edge of said inlet screen and the wall so that the water collecting or condensing upon the wall runs into the drain, and means for discharging a blast of air through said inlet screen.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and seal.

CHARLES L. BRALEY. [1 a] 

